When I return to Israel from overseas trips
I always marvel how fresh and exciting the discoveries and innovations that I
collect from the Israeli news are. But last week, even I couldn’t anticipate
the vast number of astonishing stories recently reported in the Jewish State.

In the operating theatre at Petah Tikva's
Beilinson Hospital, Israeli doctors performed two groundbreaking
procedures.Firstly, they surgically
removed a 15cm
long tumor from a woman's womb midway through her pregnancy without
harming either her or the fetus.Then in
a first of its kind event, Beilinson doctors used innovative technology to remove
a massive blood clot from the lungs of a 43-year-old woman who was
declared clinically dead after suffering an amniotic embolism during a C-section.Both the mother and her new baby daughter are
now doing well.

Would it surprise you to learn that Israeli
hospitals are uniting Israelis and Arabs?A study conducted at Schneider Children's
Medical Center found that parents from the Arab sector, whose children have
been treated in Israeli hospitals, feel a stronger sense of solidarity with the
State of Israel.

It really would be unexpected if
Hamas senior member Nayef Rajoub’s recent
spine surgery at Israel’s Assuta hospital changed his negative
attitude towards the Jewish State.That
was indeed the case with Mohammed Dajani, who heads Israel’s tiny Wasatia political party.He was educated to hate Israelis, but
completely changed when his father had his cancer treated in an Israeli
hospital.

Israel’s major research breakthroughs often
come out of the blue. Israeli bio-tech MeMed has developed a
simple blood test to reduce the overprescribing of antibiotics that is
the chief cause of resistant bacteria.MeMed has discovered a
protein in blood called TRAIL that dramatically increases in patients
infected with viruses but decreases in bacterial infections.Another Israeli bio-tech, NRGene, together
with Tel Aviv University scientists took just
3 months to map out the genome for wild Emmer wheat – a task that had
eluded dozens of scientists from 55 countries.It will now be easier to develop varieties of wheat that will thrive in
drier, hotter climates and help
relieve world hunger.

Recent unexpected international events
include that of Hebrew University Professor Renata Reisfeld accepting an
invitation to join the editorial board of the Tehran-based
International Journal of Environment, Energy and Waste.And international plane spotters were
amazed to watch the mid-air refueling by an Israeli tanker plane of a
flight of Jordanian F-16 Vipers, which were flying together with Israeli Air
Force planes on route to exercises in the US.But hats off to Master’s graduate Haisam Hassanein, an exchange student
from Egypt, who defied
expectations in becoming the valedictorian of Tel Aviv University. He delivered
a remarkable speech, emphasizing that Arabs must question their assumptions
about the Jewish State.

Here now are three relatively new Israeli-developed
apps that could help you out of an unexpected situation.Tens of thousands of Israelis have used the
app Polly to
find a car parking space in Tel Aviv’s congested streets.Polly uses GPS, crowdsourcing, municipal
information and its own algorithm to guide drivers to streets where spaces are
more likely to be available.Polly is
now being expanded to Jerusalem.Next,
why should children expect to play on
their computer rather than take regular exercise?Israeli Eylon Porat hooked up his daughter’s
computer to an exercise bike that she has to pedal in order to unlock games on
the computer for a certain time period.And
if you suddenly get an
unexpected problem, Angels Nearby will connect you to somebody who wishes
to help.Angels Nearby uses a search
engine to connect people based on the type of help needed, “trust level”
(everyone, Facebook friends only, friends of friends), and location.

To conclude, Felix and Feige Bandos
certainly didn’t
expect to make Aliya at their time of life.But at ages 94 and 90 respectively the two
Holocaust survivors arrived in Israel to a warm welcome from their family."I'm glad I'm here," Felix said
upon arrival. "This is the right place to be.”

Finally, I certainly didn’t expect Israel
to host a
global UN event next week, but 200 scientists from 40 countries will be
in Tel Aviv to attend the Animals Committee of the Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).It coincides with a related unexpected event
- Rotem, a rare
Israeli sand cat, has just surprised staff at Ramat Gan Safari by
giving birth to a
litter of three kittens.

In contrast to Iran’s destructive ambitions
and manipulative nuclear activities, Israelis are working from the microscopic
to the atomic level, in order to develop vital medical treatments and
life-enhancing technology.

Israeli scientists are working with
international organizations to eradicate cancer at the cellular level.One Israeli scientist at the Broad Institute
of Harvard and MIT has identified which of the 20,000 genes are essential to
particular cancer
cells, and are therefore weak spots to target with treatments.And an International team, including researchers
from Tel Aviv University and Israel’s Interuniversity Institute for Marine
Sciences (IUI), has discovered that fluorescent pigments in Eilat’s rainbow
coral are ideal for use as biomedical
markers for tracking cancer cells.

Knowledge of the minute interactions in the
brain will lead to the next medical breakthrough.So it is timely that Canada has just
announced a multi-million program to fund joint Canadian-Israeli neuroscience research
projects.Staying inside the brain, Israeli
biotech Pharma Two B has announced positive results in its trials of P2B001 for
the treatment of early stage Parkinson’s disease.

Hardly a week goes by without an Israeli
breakthrough with tiny
stem cells.Weizmann Institute
scientists have used embryonic stem cells in clinical tests to repair
damaged lung tissue and help alleviate chronic
respiratory disease.And
Israelis such as Tel Aviv University Professor Udi Qimron are at the forefront of
exciting antibiotic research using bacterial viruses (phages).Professor Qimron has published how phages
transfer "edited"
DNA into resistant bacteria to kill
off resistant strains and make others more sensitive to antibiotics.And if you are worried that your dog has an
infection, the PCRun molecular
detection test kits from Israel’s Biogal Galed Labs will diagnose it in
75 minutes instead of previously several days.

Researchers from Tel Aviv University and
Israeli medical centers have developed a groundbreaking method for sealing the
incisions in the eye following cornea transplant surgery.They used tiny silver
halide optical fibers to deliver an infrared laser beam at the precise
temperature needed to bond the tissue.And scientists at Israel’s Technion have injected the heart with light-stimulated
genes and used pulses of light to regulate the heart, just like a
mechanical pacemaker.But the most
fascinating microscopic device could be the implanted
microchip being developed jointly by Israel’s Teva and US firm
Microchips Biotech that will deliver
Teva-made treatments direct to patients.The technology avoids having to measure out
meds or to even to remember to take them - perfect for the elderly and forgetful.

We now launch into the world of water,
where Israeli micro-biological technology has the potential to save half of the
planet from drought.Israeli startup Ayyeka
has developed a unique water chemical
pollutant monitoring kit that is being piloted in Israel.And H2energy Now is the first Israeli startup
to be invited to the European Union-sponsored Alpine High-tech Venture Forum.H2energy’s technology uses radio waves to break
the hydrogen-oxygen bond in salt water.The hydrogen produced is a source of clean energy.And it is definitely worth watching this video featuring
Israel’s Netafim and its drip irrigation system that is globally transforming
unproductive land into flourishing agricultural centers.

In addition to Israel’s work with the H2O
of life, Israeli agri-tech companies are addressing the core issues involved in
feeding a hungry world.Dr. Zvi Peleg, of
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem screened over 100,000 sesame seed
variants to develop a new elite variety with enhanced yield and seed
quality. But maybe I should leap over the news that Israeli startup Steak Tzar
Tzar is solving the world’s critical shortage of sources of protein
compounds - using grasshoppers!

Israel’s Adama has just received Israeli
approval to market NIMITZ, a low-toxic,
eco-safe chemical to control nematodes, one of the most destructive and
problematic pests in agriculture.Meanwhile,
toxic pesticides in the rice fields have devastated Japan’s bee
population.Which is why Israel’s Bio
Bee, at Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu, is exporting
bumblebees in spacious hives, each with an impregnated queen bee and 50
worker bees.

Israel’s Phytech has developed its Plantbeat
sensors to measure how healthy a plant is and what to do to improve
it.Phytech is to sell its PlantBeat alert
system to farmers in North and South America.And if you want to know the fundamental
constituents of any food item, you will be pleased to hear that, after
4 years of development, the new SCIO scanners from Israel’s Consumer Physics
are now being shipped to customers.

Finally, there is likely to be the usual
“nuclear reaction” by the Palestinian Authority leadership as they try to deny more
evidence of historical Jewish
existence in the Jewish State, following the discovery by the Shimshoni
family of a perfectly-preserved 2,000-year-old Jewish ritual bath (mikvah)
directly under the living room floor of their Jerusalem home.